This has been a frustrating exercise. In March 2020 the trail camera recorded an otter eating frogs in the culvert for the first time. In March 2021 it did so again so I set up a second camera to record it hunting but, perhaps because I was too late, I didn't see it catching anything.
This year, forewarned, I had cameras in position at the end of February. The sequence I was hoping for was an otter hunting underwater for a frog, catching it, carrying it into the culvert and eating it in front of the camera. Unfortunately the otter hasn't read the script.
This is as far as I got. Here you can see the otter catches a frog, takes it only just into the culvert but then sits just below the second camera so we can only see the top of its head.
Another episode was similar. This time the otter sat with its back to the camera.
On the one occasion the otter sat in the right place the culvert camera was slow to react and the first camera missed it altogether.
Here is a little montage of clips of the otter hunting.
Surprisingly the camera also recorded a frog. I am surprised because the frog is coldblooded and I didn't know it would trigger the camera. It wasn't moving quickly so I have speeded up the video x 4.
I have cunning plan for next year. When there is no water flow this summer I shall crawl up the pipe and fit a couple of camera mounts to the roof. Then next spring I can return (wearing waders) and fit a camera looking back towards the downstream end so if the otter sits there the camera can see it. We'll see if that works.
Yum, yum.
ReplyDelete